Chapter 311: The Secret Realm Is Changing

The group moved away from the ancient city. They didn’t have much choice. The Miasma had already spread across most of the ruins, and every few seconds another corrupted Beast burst out of the forest.

Arthur led them toward higher ground, with Vedas at his side and Mithra slightly ahead, while Eden stayed near the center of the formation, holding the connection between everyone’s senses.

The effect was strange. Arthur could see the world through his own eyes, but whenever someone else looked in a different direction, their view flickered briefly into his mind, Mithra’s and Vedas’s, Athena’s and Sun’s.

He could see things he normally would have missed, a Beast creeping up from behind, a distant river changing color, a mountain shifting, and a burst of Light flashing through the clouds.

He glanced at Eden, who was concentrating hard. "You okay?"

Eden nodded. "I’m fine."

Arthur smiled. "You’re doing great."

Eden smiled back.

Then Athena stopped. "Wait. Look."

Everyone turned.

At first, Arthur saw nothing unusual, and then the ground moved. A thin crack opened across the forest floor and spread between the trees, followed by another, and another, as the earth beneath them began to rise, slowly at first, then faster.

Mithra stepped back. "The ground is moving."

She was right.

The forest ahead was being pushed upward by something underneath it.

Huge sections of earth lifted several meters into the air, trees tilted as their roots tore free of the soil, and a ridge formed where there had never been one.

Sun stared. "Was that there earlier?"

"No," Athena said.

Another tremor rolled through the ground, and far in the distance, something red appeared between the trees.

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Is that..."

A river of molten rock was flowing through the forest, coming from the direction of the western Fire Region and running east.

Mithra’s eyes widened. "Fire."

Arthur watched it spread across the ground, but instead of destroying everything in its path, something strange happened. Water burst up from beneath the forest in a massive stream and surged straight toward the molten river, and the two collided.

SSSSSSSSSSSS!

Steam exploded upward, and a cloud swallowed the forest.

Sun coughed. "That’s going to make breathing difficult."

"Fire and Water," Arthur said, staring.

Athena nodded. "The regions are merging."

Another explosion shook the ground, and this time the forest itself rose. Massive stone formations pushed up through the trees, earth pillars burst from the ground carrying ancient ruins with them, and one enormous structure climbed until it towered above the canopy.

"The Earth Region is spreading," Luna said.

Arthur looked back. The ancient city wasn’t isolated anymore. Its roads were stretching outward, stone paths that had been buried for centuries pushing through the forest, some linking to rivers and others disappearing beneath the trees. The boundaries were vanishing.

To the south, a dark mist began spreading across the ground. The Darkness Region was expanding, and it didn’t rise like the Earth or flow like the Fire.

It crawled through the soil, beneath roots and through cracks, across every shadow cast by the trees, and wherever it passed, the ground turned unnaturally dark.

Luna tightened her grip on her compass. "The Darkness Region is spreading too."

"And the Light," Athena said, looking up.

A flash of white crossed the clouds, then another, and another. The Light Region was no longer confined to the center, and bright energy flashed across the sky again and again, lighting up the entire Secret Realm.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

The five regions weren’t collapsing or disappearing. They were merging, and as Arthur slowly turned in a circle, he realized the Everglades no longer looked anything like the world they had entered.

Fire was flowing outward, Water was flooding the land, Earth was rising through the forest, Darkness was spreading beneath everything, and Light was filling the sky. The entire Secret Realm was becoming one vast ecosystem.

Sun looked around. "So Fire is here, Earth is here, Darkness is here, and Light is everywhere." He pointed at the massive river. "And Water is apparently trying to drown us."

Luna looked at him. "That’s one way to describe it."

Sun sighed. "I was hoping someone would disagree."

Arthur laughed, and Mithra smiled. "At least you’re adapting."

Sun looked at her. "I’m adapting because the alternative is dying."

"That’s usually a good reason."

Arthur kept walking, but after a few steps, he stopped and looked at the land again, because something about it bothered him. The regions hadn’t just lost their boundaries. They were connecting. Fire flowed into Water, Water fed the forest, Earth held up the roots, Darkness moved beneath the soil, and Light spread through the air, and all of it seemed to be moving toward the World Tree.

His eyes narrowed. "Wait. Look at the roots."

Tiny golden roots were emerging from the soil, and they weren’t attacking anything. They were spreading. One slipped beneath a river, another wrapped around a stone formation, and a third passed beneath a tree, and all three kept going in the same direction, toward the World Tree.

Athena stared. "The roots are connecting everything."

"That’s what the tree was doing before," Arthur said.

Luna looked confused. "Before?"

Arthur looked up at the enormous golden branches covering the sky. "The World Tree wasn’t just sitting at the center. It was connecting the entire Secret Realm."

Athena’s eyes widened as she looked across the five regions. "The barriers weren’t only keeping people out. They were keeping the regions apart." Her expression turned thoughtful. "The five regions were never meant to stay separated."

"And now that the barriers are gone, the Secret Realm is returning to its original state," Arthur said.

Luna stared at the changing land. "So this is what the Everglades was supposed to be?"

"I think so," Athena said.

Arthur looked at the enormous tree. "It wasn’t a weapon."

"No," Athena said, and her expression softened. "It was the heart. It wasn’t just controlling the Secret Realm." She pointed at the roots, the rivers, the forests, and finally the Beasts. "It was connecting it, nourishing it, and giving its whole ecosystem room to grow."

Suddenly, the entire Secret Realm made more sense to Arthur. The Mirrors had separated the regions, the barriers had held that separation in place, and the World Tree had been what connected everything.

"And now it’s awake," he said.

Neither of them spoke for several seconds, because they both understood what that meant. The Secret Realm wasn’t just changing because the World Tree had appeared. It was going back to what it had once been.

Then Arthur noticed that not all the roots were golden anymore. Some were black, and others were threaded with purple veins. The corruption was spreading through the same network that was reconnecting the Secret Realm.

His expression hardened. "Except something else is connected to it now."

Purple-black Miasma crawled along one of the roots, and the plants around it withered. A nearby Beast screamed, and its body began to change.

Eden looked worried. "Arthur."

"I know."

The Beast collapsed, shaking as purple veins spread across it, and then it rose again with glowing eyes. The group braced themselves, but Arthur’s eyes stayed on the root.

"The World Tree is reconnecting the Secret Realm," he said, looking at the corrupted Beast. "And the Miasma is spreading through the same connection."

Athena’s face turned grim. "So the more the Secret Realm reconnects..."

"The more places the corruption can reach," Arthur finished.

A roar echoed in the distance, then another, and then dozens. The changing land was affecting every Beast in the region. Some evolved, some fled, and some grew stronger, while others were corrupted. The entire Secret Realm had become unstable.

Mithra stepped up beside Arthur. "So what happens if this keeps going?"

Arthur looked at the World Tree, its golden branches still visible beneath the purple clouds as black veins crept across them. "I don’t know." He tightened his grip on Dusk. "But I don’t think we should wait to find out."

A tremor shook the ground, and the five Mirrors above the World Tree flashed at the same moment. Their light spread across the sky, and for a brief moment, Arthur could see the whole Secret Realm at once, the mountains, rivers, forests, and ruins, the newly connected regions, and the World Tree at the center of it all. It truly was the heart of the Secret Realm, and now that heart was infected.

Arthur stared up at it. "We need to get inside."

Vedas stepped beside him. "Then let’s find a way."

Arthur nodded, and then Eden froze. "Wait. I saw something."

She turned north, and through her connection, Arthur suddenly saw it too. It was a distant forest, with several figures running through it. They were students, and as one of them glanced back, Arthur saw something enormous chasing them.

His expression changed. "They’re alive."

Athy shot higher into the air. "I can see them!"

"How far?" Athena asked.

"Far."

Arthur looked at the World Tree, then at the students in the distance. For the first time, he had two urgent goals at once, finding the students and reaching the World Tree.

He looked at the group. "Do we split up?"

"No," Athena said immediately.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"The Secret Realm is changing too fast," she said, looking out over the land. "Splitting up now would be too dangerous."

Arthur thought about it, then nodded. "You’re right."

Mithra smiled. "Besides, if we’re going to climb that thing..." She looked up at the World Tree. "...we’ll need everyone."

Arthur looked toward the distant students. "Then we rescue them first."

Vedas raised King Maker. "Then we climb."

Arthur smiled. "Exactly."

Above them, the World Tree pulsed.

Across the connected regions, Fire flowed, Water surged, Earth rose, Darkness spread, and Light flashed. The Secret Realm had become one again, and at its center, its heart was beating with something that didn’t belong there.